Looking for the Light

This morning I heard stories on the news of the valor of the teachers at little Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. When people do unspeakable things like this that plunge us into darkness, we look for light.

My oldest brother and his daughters were teachers, and I have always held them up as heroes. I spent time in classrooms after college as a substitute teacher, and I found it was not a road for me to travel. I did not possess the character nor the fortitude for that calling.

Teachers are among the most under-valued and under-appreciated citizens in our Republic. Yet they go on, facing the children who carry the future in their minds and souls, doing what they have been trained to do to mold them and make them straight.

I am sure the teachers in this little New England town never dreamed they would one day be plunged into a terrible place, yet their reactions saved lives, as did those of the teachers in other schools which have borne the weight of national tragedies.

May God bless them and care for them and heal them in the years to come.

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